From my point of view, the main conflict that Hojo has is his dual operation of having a storefront in Malaysia while having an online business in Japan. The prices are not the same even though the name of the business is the same. If anyone has visited his store, they know the prices are considerably higher than on his website. I don't want to debate the pros and cons of this, just pointing out the inherent conflict doing business like this.

... that is interesting ... is he just not spreading overhead costs to sales of all kinds? Obviously B&M locations can have huge overhead, not to mention added shipping to these locations.

For most of us, this is actually beneficial, if we purchase online, we are not paying for these added expenses.

This is not that uncommon in the West, online prices being less than B&M's ... though I am speaking of retail giants, not tea sales.--------------Also interesting ... Artistic Nippon does business in a similar manner to Hojo online. You have to contact him and correspond back and forth to seal the deal. Yet for some reason, Hojo seems more difficult to me or I would have purchased from him by now. Perception, maybe.

Chip wrote:--------------Also interesting ... Artistic Nippon does business in a similar manner to Hojo online. You have to contact him and correspond back and forth to seal the deal. Yet for some reason, Hojo seems more difficult to me or I would have purchased from him by now. Perception, maybe.

Toru also has prices listed in US dollars on his site, and he is VERY prompt and punctual with his responses. It is easier for me to order when I do not have to have a separate spreadsheet open and convert JPY constantly.

Tead Off wrote:From my point of view, the main conflict that Hojo has is his dual operation of having a storefront in Malaysia while having an online business in Japan. The prices are not the same even though the name of the business is the same. If anyone has visited his store, they know the prices are considerably higher than on his website. I don't want to debate the pros and cons of this, just pointing out the inherent conflict doing business like this.

In fact, it is not so much the problem of the B&M shop vs the online shop. But malaysian taxes are not the same depending on the origin on the tea or teaware, same thing with cars and everything else (european cars cost twice what they cost in France for instance). Chinese tea for example will be cheaper in his KL shop than in his online store because taxes are cheaper in Malaysia than in Japan. On the contrary, a tetsubin in his KL shop will be more expensive than online.

Tead Off wrote:From my point of view, the main conflict that Hojo has is his dual operation of having a storefront in Malaysia while having an online business in Japan. The prices are not the same even though the name of the business is the same. If anyone has visited his store, they know the prices are considerably higher than on his website. I don't want to debate the pros and cons of this, just pointing out the inherent conflict doing business like this.

In fact, it is not so much the problem of the B&M shop vs the online shop. But malaysian taxes are not the same depending on the origin on the tea or teaware, same thing with cars and everything else (european cars cost twice what they cost in France for instance). Chinese tea for example will be cheaper in his KL shop than in his online store because taxes are cheaper in Malaysia than in Japan. On the contrary, a tetsubin in his KL shop will be more expensive than online.

this was not my experience when I visited there. Everything was more, much more. This was 3 or 4 years ago. Maybe things have changed.

We have the same situation here in Thailand concerning luxury goods. However you analyze Hojo's business model, it is a strange one. But, that's the way it is.